Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 5 & 9

Chronique

Conductor Jaap van Zweden has taken some critical lumps during his tenure at the New York Philharmonic, but it may not matter; his work with his "other" orchestra, the Hong Kong Philharmonic, has resulted in the transformation of a good regional orchestra into a world-class one. Under van Zweden, the orchestra seems to have a way with Shostakovich. Perhaps this is due to the experience of orchestral musicians living under a repressive government, but van Zweden's talents certainly have as much to do with it. The pairing released a fine recording on Naxos, programming Mahler's Symphony No. 10 in F sharp minor with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93, intelligently exploring the profound relationship between those two composers. This release, featuring the Symphony No. 5 in D minor, Op. 47, and the Symphony No. 9 in E flat major, Op. 70, of Shostakovich, is almost as good, pairing Shostakovich's most Soviet symphony, the Fifth, with its triumphal finale, with one that disappointed and angered his cultural bosses, the Ninth. The composer had promised a celebration of Soviet victory in World War II but delivered instead, with absolutely characteristic perversity, a jaunty, humorous work. Here, van Zweden captures the work's dry quality well, and the orchestra is in absolutely top form; hear the instrumental work in the skittering third-movement Presto. The slow movement of the Symphony No. 5 also shows what the orchestra can do, with silken string textures. The finale of this work seems a bit underpowered, but of course, one interpretation of the piece is that the composer did not really mean the perorations, and some may find van Zweden's way just the thing. At any rate, this recording represents an orchestra just hitting its peak, and it may well bring a new appreciation of Shostakovich among Asian audiences.
© James Manheim /TiVo